Need a life-affirming bit of sunshine and daisies? Then have we got the opposite of that for a story for you! Arizona National Guard recruiters, it seems, have a long, undisciplined history of taking their sometimes-still-underage prospects around town to get a taste of the excitement of military service, by shooting paintballs at homeless people! Also, sex crime, sex crime, blah blah blah. It’s cool though. One whole person got busted some ranks and not honorably discharged! So the system works! (That one time. Everybody else just got transferred, like a priest.)

Military investigators were told that [Sgt. First Class Michael] Amerson wore his National Guard uniform and drove a government vehicle marked with recruiting insignia as he and other soldiers — some still minors — shot transients with paintballs or got them to perform humiliating song-and-dance routines in return for money. During some of these so-called “bum hunts,” female recruits said, they were ordered to flash their breasts at transients. Homeless women, conversely, were offered food, money or drinks for showing their breasts.

We bet Michael Amerson was the most successful recruiter in the entire Arizona National Guard.

Don’t worry, everyone. The Guard says that these problems have been dealt with! Except for all the people who say that they haven’t.

[O]ther high-ranking officers who talked with The Republic disagreed that problems have been dealt with. They said the National Guard suffers from lax discipline, cronyism, cover-ups, whistle-blower abuse and other systemic flaws. To this day, they note, the Guard has never successfully court-martialed an officer or soldier despite serious wrongdoing uncovered by investigators.

Lt. Col. Rob White, who conducted a command climate investigation in 2009 to assess whether commanders were at fault, said he is sickened by the failure of National Guard leaders to root out misconduct and impose punishment.

“The way the Arizona National Guard is today, I would not trust it with my son or daughter,” said White. “It disgusts me … People don’t get fired, they get moved.”

White, who oversees future operations at the Guard’s Arizona Joint Forces Headquarters, is a soldier of 23 years with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He and others said attempts at reform have repeatedly failed, in part because appeals to Brewer or the National Guard Bureau’s inspector general have been simply referred back to Arizona Guard headquarters.

“The organization is there to take care of soldiers. That’s what we’re supposed to do,” White said. “But what they’re doing is taking care of good ol’ boys. And, when victims come forward, the Arizona Guard turns on them and eats them.”

[…]

White and several other officers came to The Republic with their grievances out of frustration that the problems were not being addressed. Others shared their views confidentially for fear of losing their jobs.

But here are some other people! And they say the same things, and different things!

Lt. Col. Paul Forshey, who recently retired as the National Guard’s top lawyer, or JAG officer, said he was dismayed that a list of reforms suggested by a panel of high-ranking officers was disregarded by top leaders. “I have never seen a board like that … where command did not follow the recommendations of three senior officers.”

The Guard last week accused Forshey of violating attorney-client privilege and threatened him with a state Bar complaint for speaking with The Republic, but he said he won’t be silenced. He said an ethical breakdown has created a culture of arrogance.

Someone who works for Jan Brewer though was all nah mang. Nah.

[Jan Brewer appointee and top Guard officer Major Gen. Hugo] Salazar denied ignoring recommendations for reform. He said suggestions were carried out, though with modifications. He also rejected inferences of a problematic culture.

“We do not have a corrupt command climate in either the National Guard or in recruiting,” he said. “We address misconduct. The criticism is neither fair nor true.”

Comments

Isn't this that movie with the crossdressing woman and you don't know until Stephen Rae gets her naked?

Tundra Grifter

I thought the "Most Dangerous Game" was asking Ann Falter out on a date.

PugglesRule

No, that was The Crying Game.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Arizona National Guard recruiters, it seems, have a long, undisciplined history of taking their sometimes-still-underage prospects around town to get a taste of the excitement of military service, by shooting paintballs at homeless people!

Amateurs!

We paid our bums to fight with a jar of sterno.

BadKitty904

Has America always been this way and I've just been really unobservant for the past 24 years? Or is this kind of dumbfuckery getting worse?

FNMA

It's getting worse. Dumbfuckery is something a lot of people now aspire to. I mean, look at Ryan.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

We've always been this way. We're just covering it on the news now.

PsycWench

They're getting more sophisticated at covering it up, maybe? Case in point: He said suggestions were carried out, though with modifications.. The modifications just happened to be not carrying them out in reality.

Tundra Grifter

Remember how Multiple-Choice Mitt said he didn't feel like he went to Viet Nam (well, because he didn't)?

Maybe the Arizona National Guard didn't exactly feel like the suggestions were carried out…

Seems more like "Jag" or "NCIS" territory, both shows which I have avoided ever seeing in their long and storied runs. Aren't they the pseudo-military cop shows?

http://www.southsidejohnny.com/ Jukesgrrl

Yes. I had a cousin who was an investigator for the real NCIS. They are an honorable bunch who work very much under the radar, investigating crimes done by and to members of the Navy and Marines … not much like the high drama insanity that CBS would have us believe. Lots of domestic abuse and drug cases.

Blunderthing

Endless Stream Of Garbage Passing For Humanity Stinks To High Heaven–Too Much For Perfume To Be Effective

Either I read or dreamt, some years ago, that the Israelis had used it on the Palestinians. A female soldier would appear topless from one of the hatches of a personnel carrier and while the Palestinians were staring, another soldier would start shooting.

Tundra Grifter

Topless? Heck, all she had to do was take off her hat and gunglasses. After twenty years of seeing every woman except your mom covered head to toe in a dark sheet, I think that would have been enough.

Boojum

Have you seen the pics of the gorgeous Israeli soldiers? I can see that working.

http://citizenfuturist.wordpress.com/ RufusTFirefly

If you're Sterling Archer.

Oblios_Cap

Explain to me again why the members of our military are so much better than the rest of us.

Thank you for your service.

Crank_Tango

You have to be a depraved lunatic to pay a homeless woman to show their tits, that is all.

Oblios_Cap

That's almost as bad as having Jan Brewer show you hers!

fatbob54

Sexist Comment Warning:
If Jan Brewer's tits are anything like her face, they look like a pair of old leather work gloves that you find behind the tool bench after a couple of years of drying out, and being crapped in by mice…

teebob2000

*picturing mice crapping on Jan Brewer's wrinkled old tits*

*vomiting*

Toomush_Infer

If you're thinking back to the dayz when I wasn't an oldz, when just going into a local bar was fighting words, when I was slapped in the face from my pastor, just because I didn't agree that dinosaurs bones were God's way of testing our faith, well, um, yeah, dumbfuckery's been around a while….(oops, this is in reply to BadKitty, sorry, trail…)

coolhandnuke

The military intelligence can exceed 115 degrees in Arizona.
But it is a dry wit.

CthuNHu

More of a dim wit.

Schmannnity

Someone paintball Jan Brewer with some SPF 50.

http://lostintarnation.blogspot.com/ SayItWithWookies

That's closing the barn door after the old shoe got out.

PugglesRule

Jan's leathery skin suggests she has never used as much as SPF 4. She would need SPF 35,000 to reverse that damage, if it were possible.

http://twitter.com/iburl iburl

Turtle Wax.

Monsieur_Grumpe

I imagine that some of the new recruits were disappointed when they found out that bum hunting was actually stalking the homeless.

MosesInvests

Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

UW8316154

Your move, Florida.

noodlesalad

Also, worse use of the word "conversely" ever. Female soldiers were exploited. Conversely, homeless females were exploited. THE TWO ARE NOT OPPOSITES NOR EVEN MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Bad grammar pisses me off, almost as much as exploitation of women and poor people. This makes America one of the worst places for me to live, I am now realizing.

Disassembly

Freedom isn't free. Hats, and shirts, off to these brave soldiers.

http://wonkette.com ManchuCandidate

Damn copycats. When will people stop doing their versions of Community's Modern Warfare episode?

In real life and in actual paintball, people do shoot back. Fucktards.

T3rbo

Civilians are so cute: women and children don't' shoot back. Bless your heart.

Sorry, but between not letting kids meet kids they don't normally hang out with because gay is a communicable disease and then teaching minors to pay to gawk at homeless women's tits I've had just about enough. Fucking hell.

SorosBot

Yeah, this story is just infuriating. What the fuck is wrong with people?

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

teaching minors to pay to gawk at homeless women's tits

If it was good enough for grandpa to take me…

Terry

…and we can certainly count on Governor Jan Brewer to do the right thing on this, can't we?

PubOption

I don't think that she will GTFO.

Hammiepants

Seriously, fuck Arizona with fire. It's pretty bad when you make Texas look like a utopian paradise.

Little known fact: the homeless love paintball….they'd like to borrow your gunz for a sec, though….

TavariousChinaSmith

Welcome to Abu-ghraib-zona!

Abernathy

Sounds like an AFA-style "mix it up" day.

Blueb4sinrise

Heck, the Border Patrol shot and killed a kid for throwing rocks. This barely registered on the alarm meter.

Anyway, I'm sure Jan will take full responsibility for NG, since she's CINC, or whatever she thinks she is.

prommie

That dude in the picture is the very model of a modern major general! Very Rehnquistian, in his sartorial splendor!

Tundra Grifter

I couldn't tell if that was an officer in the Arizona National Guard or a New York City co-op doorman.

prommie

One of Nixon's White House guards, I thought.

BornInATrailer

bum tits or GTFO….?

Tundra Grifter

Be careful what you wish for. Very, very careful…

LibertyLover

I don't want to live in this state anymore.

prommie

Don't lets start.

TootsStansbury

Fucking barbaric motherfuckers.

Pragmatist2

Arm the Homeless!!!
This ad brought to you by the NRA

Doktor Zoom

Our brave warriors just need to blow off steam with some harmless pranks. If the Warrior Class doesn't have some privileges, how will we recruit stout fighting men to defend our homeland?

BadKitty904

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

Doktor Zoom

YouTube, obvsly.

http://inappropriatejobpostings.blogspot.com/ fuflans

they should get special early voting hours is what i'm thinking.

LibertyLover

Is that like being able to get into Disneyland an hour early?

LibertyLover

The Draft?

natl_[redacted]_cmdr

I'm very grateful for the Third Amendment right now.

bikerlaureate

I have no problem with them having some privileges and advantages.
Tormenting other people, particularly the less fortunate, wouldn't be among the perks. Mature humans with any empathy would understand this.

Boojum

Huh? Oh, you are excluding Republicans. Got it.

http://rightthinkingamerican.blogspot.com johnnyzhivago

The homeless would make good target practice too!

Isyaignert

An oldie but a goodie: Arizona – it's a dry hate.

alvinnewman

"Now Jan, I have something very special for your old tired ass and it is about this long"

owhatever

Paintballs? I told you to lock and load full metal jacket rounds and piss in their skulls, you moron. This is Arizona, not some pussy state like Texas. When Mitt takes us to his new wars, you gonna use paintballs? Anyway, thank you for your service.

ttommyunger

I see dumb people.

An_Outhouse

There's still time to send all the Arizona Nat Guard to Afghanistan right? That would make Mr. Ryan very happy. Maybe Mitt can charter the plane.

decentcitizen

It's an absolutely valid test of a man's (or woman's) potential for inhumanity to man (or woman). What could go wrong with entrusting our national security to such fine specimens?

GeorgiaBurning

Somebody needs to read Article 134 of the UCMJ. Again.

docterry6973

Conservative states are morally superior.

editor

wtf? is there no porno in arizona?

okay, fine, i'll send every law enforcement officer in arizona a picture of my boobs, if they will promise to leave the homeless alone.

Pithaughn

I guess there are not enough wars right now. Bout time to invaded New Mexico.